Claudia is the leader of a small band of survivors who call Nashville their home. Unrecognizable since the Aftermath, Nashville is desolate, polluted, and home to cannibals, thieves, and a few survivors who can't afford to get attached to each other because no one can be trusted.
But Claudia dreams of a world far different than the one she lives in. Sometimes she even dreams of a girl who looks like her but has never known the fear of fighting for her life. A girl who control's Claudia's every action. Claudia's world makes less and less sense to her. She learns she's a pawn in a game...a terrible live-action game known as The Aftermath.
When she meets Declan, a boy who claims to be a game moderator and who can help her get out of The Aftermath, Claudia must decide if she can trust him or if this is just another game she's being forced to play.
THE AFTERMATH by Jen Alexander is the first in this exciting new series. I really enjoyed THE AFTERMATH. The setup of the dystopian society is highly interesting. The current debate on the impact of violence in gaming and movies for teens and children is flipped upside down in THE AFTERMATH. I don't want to give away the plot, but I want to say how smart this story is beneath the fast-paced, action plot. There is so much being said about our current society and it's done with subtly and finesse. There's no heavy-handed, didactic speeches, but instead the story and Claudia's actions speak for themselves. THE AFTERMATH will challenge you to think about what could happen and why we as a society would choose to play such games.
THE AFTERMATH is fast-paced and tense. With the threat of cannibals, attacks from other survivors, and an unpredictable gamer, there is a constant state of tension, but it's the mystery that drives this story. Claudia is trying to figure out what's happening to her and why, but with everything she learns, she has to also start questioning who she is. If what she remembers is just part of the game, then is she the person she believes herself to be? Jen Alexander does a fantastic job of creating an intense, action-packed suspense that will leave you ready for the second one!
THE AFTERMATH by Jen Alexander is exciting, smart, and definitely worth reading. I know I can't wait for the second book in the series and after the intense ending, I just don't know what Claudia will do. There are still so many questions, so many mysteries yet to be solved.
Sometimes, I dream that I'm someone else. A girl with dark hair who doesn't worry about hunger or thirst or running from flesh-eaters. In her world, those sorts of things don't exist…. Since the spring of 2036, when the world changed forever, Claudia and a small clan of survivors have roamed the streets of a very altered Nashville—polluted and desolate, except for the ever-present threat of cannibals. Together they must undergo punishing tests of endurance and psychological challenge—sometimes with devastating consequences—all just to live another day. With food and water in dwindling supply, and with danger lurking around every corner, no one can be trusted. And as her world starts to make less and less sense, Claudia begins to realize something terrifying: she is just a pawn in some sort of game, and all of her actions are being controlled from afar by a mysterious gamer. So when she meets a maddening and fascinating outsider named Declan, who claims to be a game moderator, she must decide whether to join him in exchange for protection and access to the border. If they play the game right, they are each other's best hope for survival—and a life beyond the only world Claudia's ever known: the terrifying live-action game known as The Aftermath.
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